Lycium fremontii
Lycium texanum
Fremont box thorn, Fremont wolfberry, Fremont's desert-thorn, Frémont's desert-thorn
Texas desert-thorn, Texas wolfberry
blade bright green, spatulate, 8–35 × 2–15 mm, fleshy, surfaces densely glandular-pubescent.
blade linear to spatulate, to 20 × 3 mm, surfaces hispidulous-puberulous.
2–3-flowered fascicles or solitary flowers.
2-flowered fascicles or solitary flowers.
4–25 mm.
1.5–9 mm.
bisexual or pistillate, 5-merous;
calyx tubular, 2–10 mm, lobes to 1–2 mm, glandular-puberulent;
corolla deep lavender to purple, tubular to funnelform, 8–20 mm, lobes 2–8 mm;
stamens included to slightly exserted.
4–5-merous;
calyx cupulate, 1.5–3 mm, minutely lobed;
corolla lavender to white, tubular to funnelform, 7–8 mm, lobes 1.5–2.5 mm;
stamens slightly exserted.
red, ovoid, 5–9 mm, fleshy.
orange-red, ovoid, 3–8 mm, fleshy.
40–60.
50+.
= 96, 120.
Lycium fremontii
Lycium texanum
Lycium fremontii occurs in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, southern California, and northwestern Mexico. Populations of L. fremontii are morphologically gynodioecious (functionally dioecious), and plants are sexually dimorphic for flower size. Pistillate plants are often covered with orange-red berries in March and April. Plants are robust; in southern Arizona they often thrive at the edges of agricultural fields, where there is water run-off. This species co-occurs with L. andersonii, L. berlandieri, and L. californicum. However, the combination of larger bright green leaves, deep lavender flowers, floral dimorphism, and considerable glandular pubescence differentiates this species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
F. Chiang Cabrera (1981) noted that Lycium texanum is similar to L. andersonii, differing mainly in the type of pubescence (short, straight hairs versus longer, curved hairs). Data from at least one nuclear gene region suggest a close relationship with L. andersonii (R. A. Levin et al. 2009), and it is possible that L. texanum is simply the Texas variant of L. andersonii.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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